Chi

I completely agree with Yang that it is one of worst Chinese food restaurants in bay area. My parents and I finally tried out tried out this place the other evening. We ordered the Sizzling Beef with Black Pepper Sauce. Well, the verdict was that it did not arrive sizzling nor was it beef. It actually tasted like pork. The same can be said for their Beef with Fried Noodle. It tasted like pork. Also, it was too salty. Finally, the chef goofed as we had ordered Beef with Udon. Luckily, the male waiter and perhaps the owner said that he would not charge for it. The last thing that arrived was their Beef Fried Rice. It was so-​so, but not salty.
Obviously, this place has its fans as it has been around for approximately a year and a half. However, my folks and I aren’t fans of this place. Therefore, we won’t return.

Chi is one of those Taiwan restaurants that
I like very much. Their dishes are delightful and the price is very cheap. The flavor is pretty traditional and tasty. Chi is a good place to get a good meal. And they have Taiwan beer! Yes! Chi is that place that you can order food and have a cool bottle of beer during how summer.

Had lunch here last week.
I ordered the beef lunch box.
It came with an entrée, rice, salad, broccoli and a drink.
Food was good, quick service, nice place to sit an eat.
For the drink I chose the winter lemon tea, it was nice.

It is one of worst Chinese food restaurants in bay area. I ordered Chiao Mian with sheep meet, it really extremely looks like Chiao Mian in Panda Express, but it tastes much way way worse.
The most important thing is that the food is not clean! I am having trouble with diarrhea now, and went to bath room 3 times already. BTW, I didn’t eat anything else after the dinner.
I am not the person who likes to give comments for restaurants. But this time, I am really angry.

Oh gee, oh Chi, I’ve been meaning to review you for quite some time.
I’ve been here a few times already (both eat in and take out) and because we came as a group we were able to sample a number of dishes. The service is good and the food is authentic. If you aren’t used to authentic Taiwanese food or you are sensitive to rich or greasy foods, take it easy here. You should know what you’re in for.
My favorites are the salt and pepper fish, salmon fried rice, basil eggplant (very greasy), three cup chicken (a lot of bone though), and the fried combo (also quite greasy) which includes chicken, squid, mushroom and pork blood. The salmon chin is delicious but there isn’t a whole lot of «meat».
Although it got favorable reviews, I didn’t really care for the silk squash. The stinky (fermented) tofu is worth a try if you are with a group but I couldn’t eat it by myself or even with just one other person. The name is no lie.
The taiwanese sausage and chicken roll is no longer available and after asking about it, it doesn’t appear it will ever be back on the menu.

One of the best Taiwanese restaurants in the Bay Area with for real legit Taiwanese cuisine and really richly made t-​food that seriously satisfies one’s palette. Chi is right on the corner of a Chinese plaza with Lions market.
The pork belly simmer rice is authentic, according to my Taiwanese girlfriend. They chop up pork belly into small pieces, simmer the hell out of it with pork and shallots. The most amazing taste if you have taste buds. I was OK with it. It’s a bit too fatty for me usually but I appreciate it on the whole and overall do love it in theory.
The 3 cups rice cakes is the star of the show and most people order the 3 cups variety here — 3 cups basically means 3 key ingredients in one clay pot, usually a protein, Chinese basil and ginger. My protein was the rice cakes which are sticky rice blood pudding. I know it sounds really dubious but it is fantastic! I normally cringe at blood and rice pudding, but it is the only way I could describe this tasty culinary amazingness. It is deep fried, sautéed and mixed in with ginger and fresh Chinese basil for a very unique meaty taste but in fact a very delicious hearty vegetarian dish. Def do try it if you get the chance because you’ll thank me for my experimentation.
Lastly another dish I got was the squid, Chinese celery and pork strips stir fry. This is fantastic and one of my very favorite dishes to order. The serving was large and the taste exceeded my expectations. I love Chinese celery so much it’s impossible not to love it. Squid was a little rubbery but I could care less. The true winner in here were the greens.
I’ve also tried the seafood cabbage soup on another Chi trip. That was okay. I didn’t care for it too much, but it was a ginormous clay pot enough to share with 3 people.
The silk squash with eggs was another dish I tried. Tastes pretty good, but not my fave. Sort of bland after having the rice cakes and simmer rice don’t ya think? But very good nonetheless. It’s a classic Chinese dish you can’t go wrong ordering!

Authentic and delicious!
I’ve been here twice now and lemme give you this one PRO TIP: come with lots of friends! That way you can totally binge order a variety of dishes and try them all! Its definitely a family style restaurant.
For an asian restaurant, the service really is quite nice here! Our server was super friendly, walked by several times to check on us and refilled the tea pot as well!
I like that the menu is something we circle and write on to place orders. I find that I usually feel pressured to pick my dish on the spot when servers (especially in more authentic asian spots) stand there impatiently waiting. I was able to do my research, check Unilocal,text friends for recommendations before circling the dishes I wanted on the menu.
The food here was so tasty! Though, I was sad to hear that they took the chicken roll and taiwanese sausage off the menu. Each dish we did order came out at a good pace and one after another! We tried a good variety from the menu– stinky tofu (good to try for beginners who are curious about stinky tofu since its fried), the assorted fry basket (included pork blood cake, squid, popcorn chicken, and mushrooms), basil eggplant, 3 cup chicken, braised pork over rice, BBQ salmon chin, salmon fried rice, silk squash, salt and pepper fish fillets, chicken and mushroom soup, and A choi. Dude. the silk squash and pork over rice– BOMB DOT COM. For a party of 8, we definitely needed more than one order of the pork over rice. The mustard with the pork, the soy sauce egg in the clay pot was yum! (my tummy is growling just thinking about it: P) The eggplant and 3 cup chicken was also super flavorful and tasty– though my only wish was that the food overall and mostly the chicken and eggplant wasn’t as oily. When I scooped the chicken, there was like a good layer of oil floating in the pot left and that made me feel a little sick just looking at it.
Overall, super delicious/​authentic with a good selection of dishes. Actually, I suspect that the ratings aren’t as high here are because of the more americanized dishes. Service was good, and the restaurant is nice and clean. Lastly, it was SUPER affordable. For all the food we ordered, the check only came out to be about $ 16 after tip and tax for a party of 8!
Will definitely come back with friends for more!

Cute, clean and trendy atmosphere. Tons of options on the menu which is a little overwhelming! Everything was good, not amazing but good. My fave was the clay pot chicken.

Surprised that this resto used to be in the Milpitas best list last month (?) mainly because when I came to try it out with a friend we didn’t enjoy the food.
The place closes by 2:30 pm and reopens by 5 pm. We came by 2:15 and asked if they would still accept us. The kind staff said «of course» so we went in. The place is big and since we arrived near closing time we were the only one’s in the place. We looked at their lunch menu and found that they have limited selections. My friend ordered the tofu with bamboo sprouts and chicken which is spicy and I ordered the beef with leeks (but they added broccoli). The rice was «are-​you-​kidding-​me-​warm» and the beef was tough. My friend’s dish was ok, she did say she wanted spicy but it wasnt spicy enough (the waiter thought she might be bluffing about the spice level) and by the end she doesn’t look too happy about it either. Oh it wasn’t the lunch bento-​style that I saw in the pictures so that was kinda disappointing. The lunch menu does come with soup — what kind you ask… fish soup with small bones on it… thankfully I am open minded with this but I don’t think this would cut to some people… even tho we were forwarned, I dont think it is best to serve left over fish stock to paying customers. My friend got the plum juice (meh!) and I got the winter melon (too sweet for my taste) which I watered down.
We also ordered the appetizer of braised pork that’s thinly sliced and topped with ginger and the special chi sauce. This is their saving grace of the whole meal but not enough to warrant more than two stars.
The service was very good, however it did not suffice the expectations we have for the place.

Stopped here for a group dinner as we wanted to try this place. Eh, honestly like more than half of the dishes I didn’t really like. Some dishes were strangely downright nasty and not to my liking. This bitter melon dish and then some other ones with bamboo stocks that was with this like light brown sauce. I should have taken some pics but everyone dug in so fast to eat it was hard to do. The clay pot chicken, and chicken bamboo soup were both very good. *** The onion pancake wasn’t really fresh and I would not recommend it ***
The interior of the restaurant is nice and clean, modern and it feels homey cause of the dark wood colors. The hostess came up to me and started speaking Chinese (I tend to get that a lot)… too bad I’m actually not Chinese, lol. Then my friend had to step in for me and do the Chinese speaking, hehe. The service is good here though, the kept refilling our waters when we needed it and did not delay when we needed our check at the end.
Stor Fried Kang Kuang in Garlic — this was a good dish you can’t go wrong with. Probably one of the better vegetables dishes on the table.
Braised pork over rice — this was one of the things I ate early on as an appetizer. It’s one of the most comforting Taiwanese dishes and was done nicely here. We also got an egg. A+
Squash in garlic sauce — DO NOT get this unless you like a MAJOR bitter taste. I’ve eaten bitter melon before and it was NOT as bad as this was. WHYYYY
Sliced braised pork belly with ginger and sauce on the top — this dish was just okay, I didn’t eat too much of it but honestly it wasn’t all that memorable.
Stinky Tofu — A little stinkier than I was used to… it was good but not really my favorite version of it.
Salt and pepper pork. — Pretty good dish, the pork wasn’t the best ever but good enough. Saucy and flavorful.
Shrimp Fried Rice — was very good but the Shrimp had a STRONG off putting fake shrimp flavor … so I put some of them to the side and didn’t eat all of them with the rice. Bleh.
There might have been a couple other dishes in there, but I honestly can’t remember them.
Luckily the bill wasn’t too bad and came out to like $ 18 with basic tip per person for so much food. Not too bad! Lucky I did not feel bad after eating anything here… bad some of the dishes were just inedible to me… :(Solid 3.5 stats to be fair.

Came here at the recommendation of a few friends and the fact that I was looking for some legit Taiwanese food here in the bay.
We came here around 8pm on a Wednesday and there were plenty of seats.
As soon as we got seated we were able to order and the workers were quick and attentive.
We ordered the silk squash dish, a Taiwanese sausage/​chicken roll appetizer, mala stinky tofu, salt and pepper fish.
The appetizer was also great. I only became acquainted with the concept of Taiwanese sausage and chicken rolls recently and this place does the dish very well. A perfect way to start our dinner!
The silk squash was delicious. The broth it was cooked in was savory and light and really let the squash flavor shine through. The texture of the squash was great too with all of its hard skin shaved off and meat cooked till tender.
We also got the mala stinky tofu. The dish itself wasn’t all that stinky which was fine for us but the flavor was surely there. The mala also added a tasteful kick to the dish and its sauce went great on rice. We devoured this dish in no time.
The salt and pepper fish was also tasty but honestly I thought it was a pretty average salt and pepper fish. In general salt and pepper fish is a tasty dish wherever you go and Chi was no exception but nothing really special stood out with it in comparison to other restaurants.
At the end of our meal we got a free shaved ice dish. The waitress said the red beans were made in house and overall the sweet shaved ice plate was a good pallate cleanser. We left feeling balanced and satisfied. I would recommend this place to anyone in a heartbeat if they were looking for good Taiwanese food in the Bay.

Stinky tofu — not stinky enough and the pickled cabbage was not the normal sweet/​tangy pickled accompaniment, it had the Taiwanese vinegar fragrance which is okay, just does not pair as well compared to the normal vinegar.
Salted duck egg and fried tofu — Okay dish. Probably my favorite out of everything, could have had more flavor or a spicy dipping sauce.
3 cup mushroom and bamboo — very little bamboo, a lot of oil (as expected for this dish). If a few jalapenos/​chili peppers were added and even faux meat, it would have made the dish more delicious.

Came here for dinner on Wednesday night. We ordered the sliced pork fried rice, sliced pork belly, bitter Melon with pork soup and fried combo (chicken, squid etc)
We only liked 2 of the 4 items. The sliced pork as snack is yummy. And slice pork fried rice is pretty decent too, but a little too much pepper and oil.
We completely dislike the bitter Melon soup and fried combo. Total waste of money. Flavor was too overwhelming on the bitter melon and so much oil and pepper in the fried combo.
Not sure I’d come back to this place again.

The thing with many Taiwanese restaurants is that they’re a bit hard to navigate through for non-​Taiwanese patrons. Even responding in English did not deter any of the employees from speaking to me in Mandarin. I’m flattered.
I like the modern décor and huge tables that can actually fit all the dishes in front of you. If you go with only one other person, it makes more sense to sit side by side rather than across from each other.
The food was slightly above average, more like a 3.5. This is what we got:
1) Pineapple, chicken, and bittermelon soup — I like that the soups come in small and large sizes. The small is good for 2 – 3 people. I loved the flavor of the broth and the generous amount of bittermelon. The pineapple is a nice balance to it too.
2) Deep fried tofu — This is the non-​stinky version that does not come with cabbage. The tofu was nicely fried and retained its silky texture on the inside. House special sauce was good too but can get salty if you use too much.
3) Chicken clay pot — Good flavor. Tons of ginger pieces which don’t negatively impact the taste. Also lots of chicken bones. Some pieces can be dry but just mix it up with the sauce from the bottom of the pot. Not sure the size and quality were worth the $ 12.
4) Stir fried gourd — I couldn’t taste the garlic in the garlic sauce but I love the lightness and sauciness of this dish. Generous portion that’s enough for 4 as a side.
Free shaved ice at the end of the meal! It had red bean, aiyu jelly, grass jelly, and taro. I’m not sure if this was a permanent thing or promo for their still having the grand opening sign up. I would consider coming back with more people to try more dishes.

I’ve been wandering around this business complex for many many years, and I’ve seen many restaurants come and go in this location. But I’m glad to announce that it looks like the bad luck in this spot has finally run out, because Chi looks like it’s coming to stay.
Love the large tables and decorations around the walls, certainly makes a Taiwanese girl miss the motherland as well. Everything I’ve had here is really good and well-​done, if you’re Taiwanese and you’ve been searching for that Taiwanese restaurant that will remind you of your grandma’s cooking, please come here and try!
The evidence is in these photos. :)

Wow, new Taiwanese restaurants opening all over the Bay Area. Chi is a new a refreshing eatery that took the space previously occupied by the Shabu /​Ramen /​Shanghainese place across from McDonald’s on Dixon Landing and Milpitas Blvd.
They remodeled the place with large tables that hold plenty of dishes. We ordered a ton of food.
Chi Special Sliced Pork 4 stars
Deep Fried Stinky Tofu 3.5 stars
Taiwan Sausage and Chicken roll 4 stars
Garlic Stir Fry Okra 4 stars
Stir Fried Squid with bean curd and celery 4 stars
Salt Pepper Squid 5 stars excellent !
Seafood Cabbage Soup 5 stars
To go items for dinner at home
Squid with Ginger 4 stars
Chi Special Fried Rice 4 stars
Sha Cha Beef 2 stars really tough beef
Chi has all the things I am looking for in a Taiwanese place authentic food, large tables, lot’s of parking and good service.

I’d heard much about this up & comer from my 国人 friends, and needed to get in on the action before it was too late.
***三杯鮭魚 [Salmon in Taiwanese Clay Pot]
Smelled absolutely delicious. Yummy basil leaves, ginger strips, whole garlic cloves with a savory glaze. Unfortunately the salmon was the bottleneck here – its flesh was too firm and was very slightly fishy. I wanted it to melt in my mouth, but it just refused to cooperate.
***炸臭豆腐 [Deep Fried Taiwanese Stinky Tofu]
A decent try, but just not comparable to real fried Taiwanese stinky tofu in fragrance or crunch. This stuff should be able to knock me off my feet from a mile away, but here I could barely sense it even as the mastication began. It’s supposed to be crackly & beautiful on the outside, but here it was just kinda dry & sad. It wasn’t awful, just a apocryphal version of the truth – they got the sweet sauce right, and I enjoyed the pickled cabbage.
***五味白肉 [Slice Pork in Chi’s Special Sauce]
This was easily the most well-​executed dish. Thin slices of delicious marbly pork on a bed of cabbage and topped with ginger slices & a sweet sauce. It was so satisfying that I could’ve just ordered two of these and been good to go. Get this please.
***五更肠旺 [Hot Pot w/​Intestine & Tofu in Chef’s Sauce]
I was so looking forward to this, but I’m not quite sure what happened here. There were a couple tiny chunks of intestine, decently flavored, swimming in a big vat of ooze that felt like they were trying to clean out the fridge. I could taste some Lee Kum Kee garlic chili sauce, sweet & sour broth, and tofu & finely diced vegetables of all variety, cabbage heavy, all boiling away as one big incongruous mess. For this experiment, I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
***月亮虾饼 [Moon Shape Shrimp Cake]
Everybody seemed to like these, but I found them shockingly pedestrian. Fried, a little fishy, nothing of substance.
ALL IN ALL:
I’m tempted to give 3 stars due to the multiple points of failure, but overall the experience was more positive than negative, and to be honest I wouldn’t mind returning. I guess that’s what you’d call a 4 star restaurant.

Yum! Definitely one of the more authentic Taiwanese restaurants in the bay! Was completely surprised by their rendition of the braised pork rice (滷肉飯) which was absolutely delicious.
The shrimp cake 月亮蝦餅 was very soft and tasty and goes extremely well with the side sauce.
The egg omelette with shrimp 蝦仁煎蛋 was fantastic as well, though slightly on the saltier side so it goes better with rice.
We also had the Kung Pao Century Egg. It was the first time I tried having kung pao something that was chicken, and I must say, it was definitely interesting. I did like the dish quite a bit though, but I wasnt sure if it was due to the combination or because I just really liked century eggs.
Stir fried A vegetables was a great compliment and «healthy» addition to our dish. Love A vegetables!
My only slight disappointment was the ma la stinky tofu 麻辣臭豆腐. It wasnt «stinky» enough and lacked the oomph from traditional stinky tofu :(I did like the fact that they added pig blood and intestine in the soup though. Maybe I’ll try their deep fried rendition next time!
Definitely gonna be driving here again for a dinner sometime soon!

Decent chinese food… i personally wouldnt say its anything too special but still not bad.
Shrimp moon cake– Imagine the dimsum shrimp ball cept the skin isnt crunchy.
Green Onion Pancake w/​Egg– I thought this would taste better cuz of the egg but it was more bland than anything. Think it needs a lil salt. It comes with sweet n sour sauce, which gives it a lot of flavor but I still think it should had more flavor on its own. It could also have been crispier.
Baked Egg Cake w/​shrimp– Imagine an omelette w/​shrimp. Flavor was ok but nothin special.
Overall, not sure if i would come back as the food isnt too special to me. I didnt try anything that made me really wanna come back.

The dishes have become much more greasy since I first frequented this restaurant.
Anything you order is good if you can handle their unpredictable wait time. You might be waiting 1 hour at the door or at your own table for food. On some days, you don’t have to wait at all. Some of the waiters don’t know any English at all. When I read one of the menu items, she couldn’t understand me and needed me to point the Chinese letters to her and had to ask me 10 times just to be sure.
Here are some of the dishes I’ve ordered since my first visit.
–YES–
Cabbage with dried shrimp — The dried shrimp is tough to eat at first and it feels like it will scratch your mouth. I became accustomed to the texture quickly. The cabbage was hot and steaming when it came out. It was deliciously salty.
Cabbage with bacon — Imagine frying a stale looking vegetable in bacon bits and bacon fat. It was delicious. Somehow, despite the amount of greasiness you could taste, you didn’t feel your artery becoming greasy afterwards.
Braised tofu with pork — This silky tofu swam and and melted in my mouth. The pork served more as a complimentary texture to the tofu.
Sizzling fish in black pepper sauce — Fried fish done well. It’s salty and the black pepper sauce lingers well. The bell peppers and onions hold the sauce well.
BBQ ribs — Thick fat rib meat slabs that rip off easily from the bone. The satay sauce is delicious to mix the shredded cabbage within.
–MAYBE–
Squash in garlic sauce — Tasteless but oddly nice to eat. I can’t tell if this bowl of vegetables was healthy or not because the hot and comforting sauce had the consistency of broth,.
–NO–
Lamb with leeks — Greasy and salty.
Minced pork in pickle — I can’t find the pickle. This is very salty. It’s like Taiwanese people trying to cook hamburger helper. There is an egg in here somewhere.
Claims Soup — It is a typo on the menu. It’s supposed to be clams. However, if you ask any of the employees, they pronounce it as ‘claims’ and insist that’s the correct spelling and pronunciation. Don’t argue with them about this. The broth is better than the clams.